When I was a teenaged theatre kid, one of the songs I played (and sang) on repeat was “Anything You Can Do” from the musical Annie Get Your Gun.
For those of you not familiar with the show, this is a competition song. In it, Annie and her rival-turned-romance Frank Butler go back and forth, arguing about which of them is the greatest at a long list of questionable life-skills. It’s exaggerated and comedic—and yet, if we’re honest, these characters’ desire to be seen as “the greatest” is kind of relatable.
We may not argue the point as dramatically as Annie and Frank, but don’t we sometimes mentally stack our merits up against other people’s? Don’t we sometimes buy into the world’s ways of comparison and competition for recognition?
This kind of thinking is so easy for us to fall into. And yet, when we find ourselves struggling with this, we can know we’re in good company. Even the disciples had a similar struggle in Luke 9:46-48:
An argument arose amongst them about which of them was the greatest. Jesus, perceiving the reasoning of their hearts, took a little child, and set him by his side, and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least amongst you all, this one will be great.”
Each of the disciples wanted to be seen as “the greatest.” And yet Jesus’ response to them actually redefined what true greatness was. Two things stand out to me:
ONE. True greatness is exemplified in the humility of Christ.
With a little child standing by His side, Jesus said, “Whoever is least amongst you all, this one will be great.”
In other words,if we want to become great, we must become small. You know, this world would tell us that greatness is found in ascending—to the top of our fields, to the heights of fame and prosperity. But in Scripture, Jesus says greatness is actually found in descending—to the level of a child, one of the “least of these” in society.
This is a counter-cultural concept and it, no doubt, stopped the disciples’ argument in its tracks. But it’s also a beautiful reminder of who our Savior is—and how we should aspire to be like Him.
Jesus is the Son of the Most High God, yet He left His throne and the glory of heaven to become a child as lowly as the one standing next to Him in Luke 9:47. Jesus humbly and sacrificially descended and took on flesh. The Greatest One took the position of “least” among us and was nailed to a cross for our sins.
This is what true greatness looks like. It calls us to fall at Jesus’ feet in worship—and then to abandon our ladders to greatness, so we can follow Him down the path of humble sacrifice.
TWO. True greatness is having Christ in us.
While Christ’s example of humility does invite us to follow and become more like Him, we need to realize: being humble and sacrificial cannot earn us greatness in God’s eyes. If it could, we’d still be stuck competing, only this time saying to one another, “Anything you can do I can do humbler.”
No, humility does not earn us greatness. But it does enable us to receive it in the person of Jesus. Look again at what He said to His disciples: “Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least amongst you all, this one will be great.”
In that one verse, Jesus repeats the word “receives” four times and I think that’s important. Jesus isn’t saying that doing humble, charitable work is the way to get to God. Rather, what I take away from His Words is that humble hearts are receptive hearts. And receptive hearts receive the gift of Jesus.
Think about it this way: If you, by the grace of God, have a humble heart with a right view of yourself, you’re not going to be too puffed up to associate with the “least” of these—because you realize you are the least of these! You’re going to see your own emptiness and need for Jesus. And if you see that need and reach out for Him, then as Matthew 5:6 says, you are blessed—because you “shall be filled.”
True greatness isn’t about having accomplishments—great or humble—to our names. True greatness is about having the great and humble Christ living within us. Colossians 2:9 says, “in Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily, and in Him you are made full…”
At salvation, Jesus brought all the goodness of God Himself to live inside us, as His people. And now, He wants to live out His humble and sacrificial life through us. He wants to transform our desires and view of self. He wants to enable our obedience, even when it costs us something. And all the while, He wants to satisfy our need to be great with the reality that we are known and loved by Him.
Above all, Christ in us is what makes us great—greatly helped, greatly loved and greatly honored in the sight of God.
So, the next time we feel that need to be seen as “greatest,” may we remember Jesus, our humble Savior and ready helper. May we trade our striving to be seen for something far more fruitful: a simple prayer, asking Jesus to live out His humble greatness through us—because truly, anything we can do, He can do greater.
This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my 2025 reading plan: “A Year in the Gospels” To receive a copy of the reading plan (and future reading plans), sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along! You can also learn more about my Scripture over Screentime experiment here.
Written by Paige K. Burhans
©2025 Paige K. Burhans
Scriptures taken from the World English Bible British Edition. Public Domain.
